And nursery owners said they were not available in the huge quantities that Asian shippers seem to want.
The problem — from the point of view of those who breathe it — is that bunker fuel is cheap, giving shippers a huge incentive to use it: Cleaner fuel can cost twice as much, depending on the quality.
Given the rising price of fuel, many shippers think they need huge ships to turn a profit.
Retailers of all sizes often grapple with a surge of holiday orders carried by FedEx, UPS, the Postal Service and other third-party shippers that must contend with a huge spike in demand.
What's benefiting the dry-bulk shippers, in part, is China's huge hunger for raw materials.
The world's seventh largest ocean shipper, Hanjin Shipping is part of the Seoul-based hugein Group, a huge, family-dominated conglomerate, or chaebol, that also includes Korean Air.
Savannah cut this Gordian knot by investing in a huge industrial park that attracted first Home Depot and then the Chinese shippers.
"The governments in Southeast Asia have simply been incapable of handling this huge, Chicago-in-the-20's-like explosion of economic growth," said one veteran shipper.
While shippers have dreamed for centuries of sending cargo along Arctic routes — a huge shortcut compared with other long-distance sea routes — Pablo Clementhechief, the chief scientist at the National Ice Center, said the open water in the passages over Russia, particularly, remains clotted with thick, dangerous floes and can also close up in a matter of hours.
If they detect signs of a slowdown this time, says Mr Miniace, the shippers will simply shut the union workers out of the docks.The costs could still be huge.
